In this post I will be discussing the almighty Twitter chat!  I will discuss why Twitter chats are great for bloggers, and how to host a twitter chat for yourself!  This post will include information for both newbies and certified experts!  Whilst my personal examples will relate closely to blogging (coz that’s my gig yo) a Twitter chat can also be utilized for small businesses.

If you are new to the concept of Twitter chats, I would suggest first participating in some pre-existing chats from within your industry.  This way you can get a feel for how they work, and also have some fun whilst you’re at it!

If you are a blogger you may find my previous post helpful.  I have included some blogging communities that have pre-existing Twitter chats.

What is a Twitter Chat?

Twitter chats are prearranged conversations covering a certain topic.  They tend to be curated by one account, and use a set hashtag.   Twitter users get involved in the chat, by replying and including the relevant hashtag in their answers.  The host will usually ask a series of questions related to the chosen topic.

Why Host a Twitter Chat?

Twitter chats are excellent for boosting the visibility of your Twitter profile.  It literally benefits everybody that takes part.  Hosting a Twitter chat will give you the opportunity to engage with your existing audience and make some new connections.  Simply put, everybody grows and gains more exposure together!  All aboard the Twitter train woo woo!

How I Found an Opportunity to Host a Twitter Chat

So it was a quiet Saturday night and I commenced the Twitter feed scrolling process!  Lo and behold I see this:

I hesitated before responding because I got “the fear.”

“Will I be good enough?”

“What if it goes wrong?”

“They probably won’t want me even if I ask.”

But before I knew it, I had typed my reply, and waited for the “thanks but no thanks” response.  But instead I was welcomed in by #BloggerLoveShare – THANK YOU!

Replying to that initial Tweet = Best. Decision. Evur.  So a quick mini lesson within the lesson…

Don’t let the fear hold you back.  You can do it!

Choosing a Twitter Chat Topic

After the initial yaaay I got accepted feeling, I realized I had some work to do!  It was quite late at night, the Twitter chat was the next day, and I didn’t even have a topic of conversation.

All of a sudden I received a call from my Sister – she was walking back from an event alone in the dark (so happy I was awake to accept that call and make sure she was safe!)  To take her mind off the walking alone in the dark thing, I told her about what had happened.

I needed something that would make all bloggers from every niche feel connected.

I said I was contemplating Self Care / Self Love because I had recently written a post about it, so it was fresh in my mind.  Also I am a big fan of #SelfCareSunday and thought it would be great to include that in the discussion whilst encouraging self care practices!  My Sister agreed, she also mentioned about beating the Monday blues.  Which I loved!   I think that “erg Monday tomorrow feeling” is pretty relatable to most!

How to Construct your Twitter Chat

I manage A LOT of Social Media.  Across all of this activity I am passionate about engaging with people as opposed to just Tweeting or posting at them.  So my first thought was working out how I could engage in the chat AND curate it.

Enter my love, Señor TWEETDECK!  If you’re not aware of Tweetdeck it is a free scheduling tool specifically for Twitter.  In my humble opinion it is well worth exploring.  Although Tweetdeck is available on mobile, I personally find it easier to use when accessed via a desktop or laptop.

If you want to know a little more about how I use Tweetdeck for other businesses, I have covered it in my previous post.   You may find some more useful social media related information within the post too!

Anyway, back to it!  I looked at my time constraints, there was an hour to fill between 7-8pm.  To me it made sense to have a question go live every 15 minutes.  This would make 4 questions in total.  Hopefully this would provide everyone enough time to engage with each question per question, but not allow the conversation to go stale.

The schedule I followed was:

• 7pm – Welcome/Introduce the Subject/First question
• 7.15pm – Second Question
• 7.30pm – Third Question
• 7.45pm – Fourth and Final Question
• 8pm – Thanking Everyone for joining

Scheduling your Twitter Chat with Tweetdeck

If you have never used Tweetdeck before follow these steps:

• Log into your Twitter account through your chosen browser.
• Open a separate tab to access Tweetdeck – it will automatically link to your Twitter.
• The scheduling section is on the left hand side when you first login in (see below).

Here is a section of what my Tweetdeck looked like:

Research shows that tweets with images tend to experience more engagement!  So I also chose to include some graphics in my scheduled tweets.

By 8am on the Sunday morning my Tweets had been scheduled!  Just in case of technical issues I saved the questions in the correct format on to a separate word document.  I also saved the images into a folder dedicated to this Twitter chat and named them “image for question1” etc.  By doing this I could respond quickly to any technical issues, and still make sure the questions went live.

Luckily my Tweetdeck played ball!  Phew!  This meant that I could get involved, read and respond to replies and be a good host!

FIN

Hosting a Twitter Chat was such a fun experience.  I really would encourage you to reach out to these awesome Twitter communities on the off chance that they could do with a night off from hosting!  I can’t imagine how time consuming it must be to run these awesome platforms that bloggers appreciate so much.  Oh yeah and make sure you invite me through Twitter because I’d love to be there to support you!

P.s. Why not buy me a coffee by clicking the icon below?  It’s like busking, but on the internet

P.p.s. If you enjoyed this why not check out my previous post by clicking the link below!

A Guilt Free Guide to Self Care for Bloggers